Experiments With Legion

Generally when I use Legion to make bread, I use all purpose flour and sugar because the youngerchild prefers this bread for sandwiches and is less of a fan of whole wheat. However, I had a few egg yolks lying around from another project and also found a white whole wheat flour I wanted to try. So I used that flour - the mix was about 2 parts whole wheat flour and 1 part all purpose flour. The sugar was the same. I did toss in the egg yolks (3) and adjusted the water accordingly. In general, I have been trying to add more water because I find that the final product is softer. My batch always makes 3 loaves.

The bread came out a light brown, the color of raw sugar, rather than the really dark whole wheat or the regular white; this is likely due to the flour choice. The crumb was also a bit softer, which I attribute to the egg yolks. We ate almost an entire loaf while it was still warm. YUM.

Her Royal Highness

Today was finally the right combination of: warm, sunny, I had no place to be urgently, and I could wash my hair and not put my styling products in (I have come to the conclusion it smells to the hive like their alarm pheromones. It's not a good scene when a bee is STUCK IN YOUR HAIR. Which has happened more often than I care to admit. Sometimes, I am a slow learner). Finally I could inspect Beeyoncé's hive.

Back when I removed the insulation panels, I had put in some comb from the other hive that was empty. It has been well used, with honey stores being formed in the back of the hive and a ton of new brood. Lots and lots of both worker and drone cells. As I moved forward in the hive I found some larvae and, finally, Queen B herself. Everything seems fine for now, but it does feel a little crowded in there. I'll have to get back out there soon to make sure they're not getting ready for a swarm. So far, I didn't see any queen cells. There is also a little cross-combing going on which, if I have to split the hive, I can remedy.

I am still pondering whether this is the right hive setup for me. At some point, I would like to get some honey and maybe, with a modular hive like a Langstroth, I could accommodate the changes in population better. I have no idea how to convert an existing colony from a top bar hive to a Langstroth and I'd also have to get a bunch of new equipment. For now, I will continue to ponder.